Barry Horwitz shares a few tips on how to improve communication between the front line and top executives when the organization is large, the problems are complex, and the stakeholders are diverse. In her book, “Seeing Around Corners,” Rita McGrath notes that insights at the “edges” of an organization — close to the customers but […]
Rob Ristagno shares a post on the benefits of customer segmentation. The customer segmentation process begins by identifying all the types of customers who buy from you. The next step is to zero in on the segments that generate the greatest revenue with the least amount of effort. Once you’ve found those high-value segments, it’s […]
Paul Millerd offers a new view on Maslow’s Pyramid and offers a different and more interesting lens on life. ‘The biggest losers, we suggest, have been management students’ This was the takeaway of three researchers who dug into the history of the invention of Maslow’s pyramid. We’ll get to that story but first let’s take […]
Veritux member Gary Chan runs Alfizo, an IT security consulting firm. His firm offers a set of free security awareness training videos that I recommend. Register here. Sample insight from the video series that seems obvious in retrospect: Many websites ask security questions you can use to reset your password (name of your first pet, name […]
Sean McCoy shares an older but always relevant post on why marketing departments need to align marketing spend with direction. The CFO says to the CMO, “Let’s boost marketing spend by 1% this month. Where should we spend it?” The ability to answer that question is true north for Marketing departments in B2C industries. With […]
In this evergreen post from Shane Heywood, he identifies the importance of recognizing the difference between the rich and poor. Non-uniform: Consumer Choices and the BOP Despite similar low levels of income, low-income households have different product preferences and different shopping styles. Do development practitioners need a reminder of this? Different folks, different strokes While […]
Joy Fairbanks shares a post that reviews the Lean Launchpad framework for business development. A timeless framework for testing product/market fit is open to everyone. The creators of the Lean LaunchPad movement have been doing this for a while. Steve Blank is a successful serial founder who launched his academic career and Lean LaunchPad class […]
Umbrex is pleased to welcome Paul Harrington with Pathfinder Consulting Group. Prior to launching Pathfinder Consulting Group LLC, Paul spent ~9 years with McKinsey & Company, where he was a Partner based in Washington D.C. Within the firm’s Global Public and Social Sector Practice, Paul led the Go to Market (GTM) team, which spanned 23 […]
This past week I read Oliver Burkeman’s new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (recommended.) Burkeman argues that time management systems and productivity hacks are ultimately self-defeating: “they do work – in the sense that you’ll get more done, race to more meetings, ferry your kids to more after-school activities, generate more profit for your […]
In this evergreen post from Johannes Hoech, he shares nine tips for startups to get traction with analysts. Once technology startups close their first few enterprise deals and increase revenue to millions of dollars, they often want the analyst community to recognize their innovations and give them their rightful standing in the marketplace. However, few […]
Kaihan Krippendorff identifies how the concept of a flywheel can be applied to business. Most evenings, when I’m not traveling, I make time to get in at least half an hour on my Peloton bike. It helps to wind down at the end of the day. I’ll turn on a show (lately I’ve been slowly […]
Umbrex is pleased to welcome Nick Mork with Value Unlimited LLC. Nick spent eight years with Bain and Company, finishing in the case team leader role. He specialized in consumer products and private equity clients and was always rated top of his class for analysis. He then opened his own practice, performing Bain-like projects for […]
